Judge Rips Drugmakers' Borderline 'Disingenuous' Appeal Bid

By Dorothy Atkins

A Connecticut federal judge has rejected generic-drug makers' request for a quick appeal of his ruling denying them summary judgment on states' claims they engaged in an "overarching conspiracy" to fix prices, slamming the request for being borderline "disingenuous," mischaracterizing his reasoning and ignoring direct evidence of alleged wrongdoing.

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Bayer AG Unveils $7.3B Deal For Roundup Users

By Carla Baranauckas

Bayer AG unit Monsanto has agreed to pay up to $7.25 billion over as many as 21 years to resolve current and future claims that exposure to the weed killer Roundup caused non‑Hodgkin lymphoma, under a proposed nationwide class settlement filed Tuesday in Missouri state court in St. Louis.

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Boeing, Ex-CEO Escape Fund's 737 Max Fraud Suit

By Linda Chiem

An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday tossed a securities fraud suit accusing Boeing of misrepresenting the safety of its 737 Max 8 jets after two deadly crashes overseas, saying a Massachusetts-based investment fund cannot pursue claims purportedly assigned to it by a defunct assignor.

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States Hit Discovery Roadblocks In HPE Merger Fight With DOJ

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge mostly sided with the Justice Department on Tuesday on the latest discovery disputes in state attorneys general's challenge to a DOJ settlement greenlighting Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion Juniper acquisition, ruling that HPE doesn’t need to reveal who's bidding for divested assets, and refusing to delay deadlines.

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Buffalo Wild Wings Can Sell Breast Meat As 'Boneless Wings'

By Lauren Berg

A Buffalo Wild Wings customer who claims he was deceived by the restaurant's "boneless wings" found his lawsuit in the deep fryer Tuesday, after an Illinois federal judge determined no reasonable consumer would believe the product is actually deboned chicken wings that are "reconstituted into some sort of Franken-wing."

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7th Circ. Won't Revive Suit Over Ill. COVID-19 Testing Mandate

By Celeste Bott

The Seventh Circuit on Friday affirmed the dismissal of a Title VII claim brought by public school employees challenging the state of Illinois' requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic that they undergo weekly testing if they refused to take the vaccine, saying they failed to "moor their objections to the testing requirement to any religious beliefs."

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States Say FEMA Ignoring Disaster Mitigation Funding Order

By Carolyn Muyskens

Two months after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's cancellation of a federal disaster mitigation program was illegal, the government has not shown any signs of restoring it, a coalition of states said Tuesday.

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Union Says Express Scripts Diverted Billions In Kickback Fees

By Mark Payne

A Chicago plumbers union healthcare fund told an Illinois federal court Tuesday that the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager, Express Scripts, violated federal criminal law when it used a Switzerland-based company to hide kickbacks it generated by charging drug companies fees for key placement on prescription plan drug lists.  

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Kraft Heinz To Face Damages Bid In Factory Upgrade Row

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled that Kraft Heinz Co. contributed to delays in a construction project at one of its facilities by rushing the contractor and frequently changing the plans, holding that Industrial Power Systems Inc. sufficiently showed that it suffered damages from the delays.

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Walgreens Can't Ditch 'Dishwasher Safe' Cutlery Dispute

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge largely rejected a bid from Walgreen Co. and other companies to ditch a proposed class consumer suit targeting plastic cutlery that melted in a dishwasher, saying the customer has plausibly alleged that the utensils' front packaging label features a misleading claim that they are "dishwasher safe."

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Law Professors Sue EEOC For Firm DEI Letter Records

By Craig Clough

Two professors at law schools in Michigan and Florida have sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in D.C. federal court, seeking documents related to 20 letters the agency sent to law firms over their purported diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

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Goldstein Tax Trial Heads To Closing Args As Defense Rests

By Jared Foretek

Jurors in SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's tax fraud trial will hear closing arguments Wednesday, after the final two witnesses in the monthlong proceeding took the stand, and new emails regarding Goldstein's efforts to conceal poker debts came to light Tuesday.

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Flat Fee Or Contingency? Firm, Ex-Client Fight Over IP Spoils

By Ben Adlin

A 3D printing technology company has urged a Washington federal court to toss a breach of contract lawsuit brought by its former law firm, Lee & Hayes PC, arguing it agreed to a flat fee ahead of a patent settlement, while Lee & Hayes says it only waived a contingency fee because of its onetime client's "underhanded misrepresentations."

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J&J Fights Beasley Allen's Bid To Pause Talc DQ Ruling

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey state court lacks standing to block an appellate panel's removal of Beasley Allen from representing hundreds of women with ovarian cancer pursuing claims against Johnson & Johnson over talcum powder, the pharmaceutical company has argued in an opposition brief.

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Valve Jury Says Rothschild, Atty Broke Anti-Patent Troll Law

By Rachel Riley

Inventor Leigh Rothschild, his companies and his former attorney broke Washington state's anti-patent trolling law by making a bad faith assertion of patent infringement against video game developer Valve Corp., and Rothschild and his companies breached an intellectual property licensing deal in the process, a Seattle federal jury found on Tuesday. 

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Supreme Court Adopts Rule To Suss Out Stock Conflicts

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that litigants will soon be required to include companies' stock ticker symbols in court documents as part of new rules aimed at helping the justices identify potential conflicts of interest.

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Sens. Concerned About Live Nation Case After DOJ 'Ousting'

By Matthew Perlman

A group of Senate Democrats is raising concerns about potential political influence at the U.S. Department of Justice, following the abrupt departure of the agency's top antitrust enforcer weeks before Live Nation is set to face trial in the government's monopolization case.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence disputes continued their slow weave into Delaware Court of Chancery and state Supreme Court dockets last week, with jurists and litigants grappling over how — or if — the courts' old-school equity jurisdiction and fiduciary duty hooks apply to new kinds of deals.

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